Galloway Runs in London Byelection Without Setting Foot in the UK

George Galloway, leader of the Workers Party of Britain, is contesting the byelection in London's Holborn and St Pancras constituency, formerly held by Keir Starmer. He has not set foot in the UK since the campaign began, saying he is in "self-exile" following questioning at Gatwick airport a year ago.

Social media shows he spent recent weeks on a speaking tour of South Africa, while his latest posts suggest he is now in Shanghai. Before that he was in Moscow. On X, Galloway called the "path leading us to WW3 in Ukraine" the biggest issue of the contest, a message that has gained little traction with voters. Party activists are campaigning in the constituency without their candidate, in a race widely seen as a contest between Labour's Sagal Abdi-Wali and the Greens' Zack Polanski.

An anomaly in electoral law

According to the Electoral Commission, any British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen over 18 may stand, provided they are not bankrupt or a police officer, member of the armed forces, civil servant or judge. There is no requirement to be a registered elector or to meet a residency condition.

Questioning and Russian links

Galloway and his wife, Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, were stopped at Gatwick in September last year after returning from Nizhny Novgorod. He says the stop lasted 11 hours. It took place under schedule 3 of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, and neither was subject to further legal action.

In June 2025 Galloway appeared on a panel with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, and in April he spoke at a conference of the pro-Soviet network Sovintern. In September he took part in a discussion with the pro-war author Zakhar Prilepin.

He also said last month that Bank of Scotland had closed his accounts. The bank declined to comment on individual cases but said it does not close accounts because of political or personal beliefs.